UK’s Eurovision entry Electro Velvet get mixed response
With their song ‘Still In Love With You’
The UK’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, ‘Still In Love With You’ by Electro Velvet, has been met with a very mixed reception from the British public.
The Alex Larke and Bianca Nicholas’ sung track is an up-tempo and unusual fusion of swing and electro and divided music fans when it was unveiled on Saturday night.
Immediately hitting out at the track, Guardian critic Stuart Heritage called it “a nightmarish (and unnecessarily long) effort to fuse the DNA of Cotton Eye Joe, the 1994 song Doop by Doop and the collected works of Scatman John into a monstrous new form”, while Eurovision expert Dr Paul Jordan said “I genuinely don’t think it’s that bad.”
Reflecting the response on Twitter, one user wrote: “Awful. It's like a mixture of the Super Mario 2 theme tune and will.i.am Bang Bang”, while another less harsh user tweeted: “Am I the only person who likes Electro Velvet?”
Indicative of the divided response, the YouTube video has gained 2,221 likes compared to 1,647 dislikes.
Paul Mark-Jones, president of the UK arm of the international Eurovision fan club, told the BBC: "People just assume we won't win again but any country can win.
“This song will stand out a lot because there are a lot of ballads this year and they have something different. But I don't think this year will be the year that we win."
The UK has had a torrid time at Eurovision since we last won it in 1997 with Katrina and the Waves’ ‘Love Shine a Light’.
We have only secured one Top 10 finish (Jade Ewan’s fifth spot in 2009) since duo Jemini embarrassingly scored “nul points” with their off-key rendition of ‘Cry Baby’ in 2003.
Fingers crossed Electro Velvet fare better!